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Iranian artist and prisoner of conscience, Atena Farghadani, has been on hunger strike the past three days to protest defamation and verbal abuse.

Farghadani’s mother told HRA News Agency: “We went to visit Atena in prison, when we found out that she has been on hunger strike for three days. She is in a bad condition both physically and mentally.”

According to the mother, Farghadani is on hunger strike to protest defamation and verbal abuse from the prison guards.

This comes following the news that Farghadani is facing additional charges, including “indecent conduct,” after shaking her male lawyer’s hand.

Farghadani is serving a 12-year prison sentence in Iran for drawing a cartoon. Last time she went on hunger strike was in February 2015. It lasted for three weeks and sent her to hospital following a heart attack.